Homecoming
by EnforcerAJ
Summary: While he was only a child at the time, Loqi Tummelt clearly remembers his baby brother being stolen away by Cor the Immortal. Now a full fledged General in the war he vows to get his vengeance, and bring his brother home.
1. I Taken

_**I Taken**_

It was natural for any child to squirm and shudder at the idea of being in a lab, especially out in the middle of nowhere when it was bitter cold outside. This was for his mother though, as young Loqi Tummelt had to remind himself. Even at five years old he could tell that she was sick, and she even said that these visits were with good scientists and doctors that could help her get better. Why she took him with her instead of leaving him in the comfort of the manor with their other distant relatives and staff was far beyond his understanding, but he did his best to sit quietly with his stuffed chocobo. Like any other ordinary five year old though Loqi soon grew bored of staying put as the minutes passed by in silence. After squirming and fidgeting impatiently the child then decided that it would be fine to walk around just a little bit as long as he didn't touch anything and didn't wander to far.

For the most part the lab creeped him out as the long metallic hallways looked the same and seemed to go on forever like an enchanted maze in the fairy tales that had been read to him before. Then there were the people seemingly sleeping in the over-sized test tubes. Not once did he dare to get to close to them, for while not one of them ever seemed to budge the child was worried that one might wake and break out of its confinement to snatch him up. Turning his eyes away from them, he stopped once he heard the undeniable soft cries of a baby.

Hesitantly following the noise he soon found the infant boy alone in another room seemingly abandoned in a small plastic tote labeled "defective" though Loqi wasn't quite at reading level just yet. Wondering where his parents were, Loqi stood on his tip toes to get a better look at him and gently poked the fussy blonde baby. Oddly enough he was quick to stop his fussing now that someone was paying a bit of attention to him, and wrapped his small soft baby hand around the child's finger while staring up at him with curious blue eyes.

"Shhh see? It's okay..."

Gently pulling his hand away he then quickly replaced it with his chocobo plush before he could cry again. Instantly it was grabbed at and drooled on, as to be expected from any infant. As Loqi continued to watch him for a few minutes he wondered if he should attempt to go find an adult so this baby would be properly taken care of, but then he was bound to get in trouble for not staying put. It was also noticeable that they did look alike, but his mother would surely tell him if he had a baby brother wouldn't she? Besides he hadn't even gone and _asked_ for one.

Hearing a pair of seemingly hurried footsteps from down the hall immediately pulled him away from his current train of thought as he instinctively hid behind other storage containers that needed to be disposed of. Sure enough he heard the footsteps skid to a halt right outside the room, but Loqi stayed low and silent as the stranger quietly entered the room and paused to look down at the nameless infant. Bravely poking his head out just enough to see him properly Loqi could tell right away that he didn't belong in this lab for the black uniform he wore stood out far too much in this environment. While it took him a moment to notice the small Lucian insignia on his jacket, but before he could put the pieces together his baby brother in question was gently scooped up and quietly whisked away.

"S-Stop!"

At first Loqi stumbled when he tried to quickly get to his feet in an attempt to chase down the Lucian. By the time he was back out into the hall the man had seemingly vanished. Thankfully his mother had previously told him where the alarms were on the walls in case he ever needed to push one in an emergency. This situation most certainly qualified for it, even if he got in trouble after he explained himself. The button was quickly spotted, and while it thankfully wasn't encased in glass it took him a few jump attempts to finally reach before he successfully slammed his tiny fist down on it. Sure enough the whole facility was blaring with sound in an instant, making him instantly cover his ears as he made his way back to where he had been first told to stay put. Whatever it took for him to get his baby brother back. If not today then he would make it happen in the future because he was never going to forget that man's face...

* * *

It was apparent moments after he opened his eyes that he was in a hospital room. The last thing General Loqi Tummelt could clearly remember was blacking out on the battlefield just moments before his max-curiass went up in flames. It seemed that he had hit the eject button in time after all, but who had gotten him to safety and just how long had he been out were entirely a mystery to him.

It was no surprise that such an early memory resurfaced in his dreams, for he had been so distracted in his recent battle considering he had actually found his stolen brother. Twenty years with no signs of him, but he knew that face anywhere thanks to his several visits to the lab that housed countless numbers of clones waiting to be turned into Mts. Without a doubt his brother was on the Lucian side of this war, with the Prince and the damn Marshal of all things. It fueled his rage and hatred even more for the man that took him away to begin with.

Cursing under his breath for his own carelessness that he showed such weakness and a humiliating defeat the young General did his best to slowly sit up despite the pain he was in. It seemed he was on enough morphine for the time being that he wasn't suffering as much as he could be, but not enough for him to be high on the stuff. As far as he could tell nothing had been broken, but he didn't dare to try to get up and move around due to the amount of bruising he was about to have, not to mention that all the bandages he had on the worst of his burns suggested he had already had skin grafting surgeries. He would get the full speech from the doctor shortly, and wouldn't be surprised if he had to go through a period of physical therapy before he could even consider getting back out on the battlefield.

 _At least I'm alive._

He tried to remind himself of that much. But now on top of doing all he could to end the war sooner rather than later _and_ getting his brother back; he now had to redeem himself because of the shame that this pitiful defeat brought upon the good name of House Tummelt. This long and surely tedious recovery ahead of him would at least give him time to properly think he decided, even though he let out a huff of frustration as he flopped back against the pillows and finally hit the button to call the nurse.

 _I'll get you back little brother...You'll see._

It was unfortunately no surprise that he had found him fighting for the enemy. What other reason would the Lucians have for breaking into a lab and stealing a subject of human experimentation that was to be discarded? There was no telling what kind of brain washing he might have been subjected to over these past two decades, but Loqi had no intentions of taking his brother anywhere near the labs in Niflheim again.

Priorities needed to be straightened out first thing, but for now Loqi wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep for a while and hatch his plans as soon as he felt a bit better. Or so he thought possible until he heard someone enter the room moments later. He cracked an eye open and expected to see a nurse checking up on him, but instead he growled in a mix of disgust and disappoint at the man looming over his bedside. He forced himself to sit up again through the pain he still felt; every fiber of his being boiled in a rage far greater than any enemy that he had come across as he tightly gripped the sheets in frustration at the fairly hopeless situation he was in. If he had any of his weapons near him at this time then the old gray scientist before him would be killed without a moment's hesitation as he should have done years ago.

"Hello father."


	2. II Father

_**II Father**_

It had only been a matter of days since his mother's funeral, as she had lost the fight against the star scourge that had been threatening her health for years. At only eight years old it was natural for Loqi to openly mourn his loss, but to his surprise, very few of his relatives living in Tummelt Manor actually reached out to comfort him. Already he had been hearing whispers among his distant relatives that it was a good riddance that the black sheep of the family was now long gone. It wasn't until he was older that he would realize it was all because he was not only born out of wedlock but that he had been conceived unnaturally as well.

It still came as a surprise when his Uncle interrupted his studies one afternoon and told him to go pack his things. With a nervous gulp, he rose to do so without question and had to wonder if he was being shipped off to some sad orphanage like the unwanted child he was being treated as. At a loss on just what he was supposed to take he did his best to neatly pack away most of his clothes and his favorite action figures as well as his toothbrush. For the most part, he had outgrown the idea of snuggling with stuffed animals at night, but with no clear idea on what lied ahead, he grabbed a teddy bear and just barely managed to shove it inside before slamming his suitcase shut. His uncle fetched him moments later and took both his luggage in hand a bit roughly.

"You're going to live with your father from now on."

Just like that, his questions were answered, only to simultaneously create more. He had asked his late mother about his father a time or two, but his questions had been avoided each time. Eventually, he had given up asking altogether. Now that he was apparently finally going to meet the man he knew nothing about he couldn't help but to be nervous and fall silent for the entire car ride and watched as the landscapes changed from cities in the distance to an endless cold blanket of snow. It didn't take him long to eventually realize they were heading back to the lab he had frequently visited with his mother, making his dread sink in even more.

Keeping his head down once they arrived as his uncle dragged him through the halls he had to wonder if he was actually going to live here. For a moment they paused as his uncle asked a passing scientist where chief Besithia was. With his hand harshly taken a moment later as he was half dragged down the hallway and shoved into the office with his bags roughly dropped beside him.

"Lady Frigga has passed. The child is your problem now."

Taken back by the sudden realization that he was being cast aside by his own family for a man he didn't even know existed until today. The idea of being welcomed with open arms was also quickly crushed as Verstael quickly rose from his desk and loudly dropped the papers in his hands.

"That _boy_ became worthless to me years ago and should have been disposed of them. What use do I have for such a failure of an experiment?"

Quietly shrinking back into the hallway as the adults continued to coldly bicker about whose responsibility it was to take legal guardianship over. Neither of them seemed to notice he had left the room and had just found a quiet corner to curl up and sob. In the end, Verstael had taken full custody of him, only to ship him off to military school the very next day.

* * *

For a brief moment, Loqi considered spitting in his father's face, especially considering he wasn't carrying his cane today. Still just because the old man had nothing to beat him with this time around didn't mean he wouldn't try to smother him to death with a pillow or take away his painkillers. As long as he was in this hospital bed he was at the monster's mercy.

"So nice of you to crawl out of the depths of hell to see me. What do you want?"

"You will speak to properly as a commanding officer."

A cold reminder as always, but Loqi only rolled his eyes as he would _never_ speak to his father out of any form of respect.

"Fuck off and go torture someone else with your presence." As childish as it was he threw one of his spare pillows at the old man in mere frustration, but as it expected he merely shrugged it off and circled his bedside. Sure enough, he was slapped across the cheek a moment later, though Loqi had gotten used to such acts of abuse by now.

"You will show me all due respect as your commanding officer. The Empire will not tolerate insubordination!"

Sitting up he planned to retaliate at once knowing full well the science department had no real authority over the military branch, but Verstael continued before he could be given the chance to speak out.

"I could never understand your hostility towards me. All I want is what's best for our soldiers. To get them through this war with as few deaths as possible. The Chancellor has applauded my efforts and ensured there'd be no shortage of funding for my research. Why is it you're the only one to find my work disagreeable when it has saved the lives of so many of your men? I intend to take any avenue that will minimize our death tolls. Isn't that what you want as well, General?"

For once Loqi fell silent against his father, unable to find a firm counter-argument. Not that Verstael's behavior was excusable considering he thought of him as nothing more than a madman for several years now. Sometimes he silently questioned the Emperor's sanity as well…

"Whatever it takes for this war to end quickly…It's gone on long enough."

With the majority of his anger fizzled out for the time being he laid back and relaxed as the painkillers finally kicked in.

"Just tell me what you want from me old man. I know you're here to lecture me about my failures so just spit it out already."

"General." Verstael began to answer calmly. "A problem has arisen that only you can handle. For Niflheim, I need you to take out an MT unit." He rattled off the unit number and its location.

Grumbling about his lack of proper recovery time Loqi very carefully removed the IV drips from his arm and shooed his father out of the room saying that he would take care of it. Sure enough, a fresh military uniform had been laid out for him in the corner along with his weapons. It naturally took him much longer than usual to dress as he had to be cautious with his still healing wounds, but it seemed he had been out long enough that the worst of them had healed. After he cleaned up this mess he would make sure to leave the lab behind and go through some proper psychical therapy before returning to the battlefield.

Checking to make sure his gun was properly loaded and at the ready, the young General slowly shuffled down the isolated hallway where the supposed rouge MT was. Having long since memorized the security codes to the labs due to his dozens of visits he punched the code in and raised his weapon as he naturally expected an assault at once. Instead, he was met with utter silence and cautiously took a few steps forward.

"Shit..."

There was no MT insight, but rather a pale clone that looked fresh out of the stasis tube in a simple hospital gown and completely unarmed. This wasn't some loose experiment that needed to be put down, but rather a test of loyalty. Loqi didn't need to glance around for cameras but knew his father and possibly others were watching him.

 _They know..._

Somehow someone knew he was after his long-lost baby brother that he had recently found. Now they were torturing him by putting a clone with the same damn face right in front of him. It didn't even flinch as he aimed point blank at its head, and merely sighed as he pulled the trigger and blew his brother's brains out.

"Hope you're satisfied because I'm done here!" He shouted to whoever was listening, then turned and stormed off the best he could with a huff.

After all these years of searching for the baby brother, he wanted to protect he was just now realizing that he didn't have a solid _plan_ for what to do when he got him back. Taking him back to the Empire was most certainly not an option considering it would most certainly be the end of his dear baby brother...


End file.
